I've tried everything... Haven't I?

[Ribbons]

To say that my primary roleplay project, Islands of Origin, is incredibly important to me would be an understatement. I've been working on Islands of Origin for over three years now, creating and revising characters and storylines. Every person who I've shown it to has heaped it with praise, telling me that they admired the immense effort that I put into it and the sheer amount of detail contained within my world and characters. And yet... It never seems to get anywhere.


I cannot even begin to convey how hard I've worked on this project. I've posted Islands of Origin to six different roleplaying forums. I've taken feedback from others and made edits in order to make it more accessible. I've advertised it on various social media sites and gotten others to advertise it for me in order for it to reach as wide of an audience as possible. I've told all of my friends, asked them to tell their friends, and, in many cases, asked them to tell their friends as well. When I'm meeting new people for the first time, I try to find ways to work it into conversations. And yet, despite all of my efforts, my vision never seems to get anywhere.


People have told me that I should just convert Islands of Origin into a solo project. That I should stop relying on others. But, I just can't do that. Collaborative writing is my passion. I love bringing together people with different interests, skills, and ideas, in order to create one work of art. I would honestly do anything to get this project to just go somewhere. But, every time, I either can't get enough people, or the people that I do get lose interest quickly. I just don't know what else I can do. I would appreciate suggestions immensely. This project has been the only thing keeping me going for a long time. I'm too attached to it to just give up on it now. Thank you.

 

[call me rae]

Well I know one of the ways I've seen a roleplay keep going is to just continue with the story. Rather than let it die just because of inactivity create some kind of time skip to a new mission in the roleplay.


Keep the story progressing by taking people's suggestions on how plot twists and what not. Allow characters to be killed off and new characters to be brought in as people get bored.


But most of all just keep looking until you find that group of people that are as motivated as you.


That might be half your problem : your over advertising.


People might here about it from a social networking site or something think : maybe I"ll give it a go for a little bit, then wander off.


You need to focus instead on finding specific people. People you can get along with that are motivated to help you continue the story.


Even if they don't post as fast or they sometimes go on hiatus to other things.


Get them as excited as you are and the roleplay will last longer.

 

[Dusky]

Rae is right. Networking is indeed a huge part of a long-term roleplay. We all find a group we like over time - favorite GMs, or on the flip side reliable roleplayers - and we stick to that. It may behoove you to become part of the community - to join other roleplays and make those connections, and see if you can't entice people you know and trust to stick to it. This is true for roleplaying in general - not just one roleplay in particular. For example, I know that if @Grey or @Elle Joyner are running something, they'll do a great job, and they know that I will bring quality posts and not randomly drop the RP without saying anything.


In fact, those two may have further advice they'd like to add.

 

[Saccharine Cyanide]

This might be a tough pill to swallow...but you may want to consider letting this project go for now.


It seems to me like this passion project could be sucking up all your time and energy. And with no results to show for it...you get a cycle of frustration.


So I say, move on to a different project for a while.


If that project fails, move onto a new one. And rinse and repeat. It's like the art teacher who had one half of the class try to create one perfect piece of work, and had the other half make dozens. The first half spent all their time trying to think of a perfect piece, while the other half was trying, failing, and learning.


Figure out what works and what doesn't. Then, go back to and apply what you've learned to your current project. That's my advice.

 

[Mordecai]

I also hate to say it but you say you put a ton of time in to the plot, the characters, and the stories....


Roleplaying is all about collaborative storytelling and, to some degree, letting go of your 'baby' and letting roleplayers have a little creative freedom with how their character interacts with a pre-determined world. Honestly? My guess is that your roleplay may not be going anywhere because roleplayers find it creatively suffocating. It may be a beautiful world and set-up, but if a roleplayer can't add their own flare and creativity to it, why roleplay it?


If you want to control every element from character to setting to every intricate nuance of the plot, I'd suggest turning it in to a novel. Your vision isn't going anywhere because that's exactly it... you're trying to force people to follow a very strict 'vision.' That removes the fun of roleplaying for a lot of people. At least, it would for me.

 

[Ribbons]

I also hate to say it but you say you put a ton of time in to the plot, the characters, and the stories....
Roleplaying is all about collaborative storytelling and, to some degree, letting go of your 'baby' and letting roleplayers have a little creative freedom with how their character interacts with a pre-determined world. Honestly? My guess is that your roleplay may not be going anywhere because roleplayers find it creatively suffocating. It may be a beautiful world and set-up, but if a roleplayer can't add their own flare and creativity to it, why roleplay it?


If you want to control every element from character to setting to every intricate nuance of the plot, I'd suggest turning it in to a novel. Your vision isn't going anywhere because that's exactly it... you're trying to force people to follow a very strict 'vision.' That removes the fun of roleplaying for a lot of people. At least, it would for me.

Part of my "vision" is exactly that - having multiple people come together to create one cohesive story. There are many elements of the story and world that I've left up to interpretation, and I've made it very clear to my participants that I encourage people having their own take on various aspects of the world.

 

[Idea]

Part of my "vision" is exactly that - having multiple people come together to create one cohesive story. There are many elements of the story and world that I've left up to interpretation, and I've made it very clear to my participants that I encourage people having their own take on various aspects of the world.

I actually think @Mordecai is up to something here.


You insist a lot on all the effort that you put into it and how important it is to you, etc... I don't want to be rude or disregard that effort, the quality of your work or any such thing, but unless I'm misinterpreting what you mean leaving ASPECTS of the story "open for interpretation" is not enough for an RP. That is what a written story (as in a.book) does. That is because in a book there will be certain times when the writer will skim over things or make a storm out of a cup of water (direct translation), and not answers some of the raised questions, thus leaving them open for interpretation.


On an RP, however, the opposite should happen. There should be a couple things here and there that are set in stone, like the premise and maybe a couple plotpoints, but everything else in the story should be up for the role play. Character making in particular, should be left entirely to the role players, provided they stick to boundaries of the setting.


Speaking of which, I'd have to take a more detailed look at the setting, but I have this suspicion that it may also be pretty closed up. It isn' t just about having room for interpretation, some times, but how much. The needs on this depend greatly from player to player, but it's generally rather spatious and the rules are simple as to not only leave room to fit a lot of different things, but to also to twist and play with them. The only times were rules seemed to be allowed to be more complex is within anRP that has already been long running and thus has been piling up rules and depth, or in a fandom RP, where there is a solo work which the players are known to have already seen and enjoyed, thus making them more receptive to rules.


Granted , role players can also get greedy some times.


Anyway, hope that helps a bit or if not, that it at least helps clarify the possible issue.

 

[Ribbons]

I actually think @Mordecai is up to something here.
You insist a lot on all the effort that you put into it and how important it is to you, etc... I don't want to be rude or disregard that effort, the quality of your work or any such thing, but unless I'm misinterpreting what you mean leaving ASPECTS of the story "open for interpretation" is not enough for an RP. That is what a written story (as in a.book) does. That is because in a book there will be certain times when the writer will skim over things or make a storm out of a cup of water (direct translation), and not answers some of the raised questions, thus leaving them open for interpretation.


On an RP, however, the opposite should happen. There should be a couple things here and there that are set in stone, like the premise and maybe a couple plotpoints, but everything else in the story should be up for the role play. Character making in particular, should be left entirely to the role players, provided they stick to boundaries of the setting.


Speaking of which, I'd have to take a more detailed look at the setting, but I have this suspicion that it may also be pretty closed up. It isn' t just about having room for interpretation, some times, but how much. The needs on this depend greatly from player to player, but it's generally rather spatious and the rules are simple as to not only leave room to fit a lot of different things, but to also to twist and play with them. The only times were rules seemed to be allowed to be more complex is within anRP that has already been long running and thus has been piling up rules and depth, or in a fandom RP, where there is a solo work which the players are known to have already seen and enjoyed, thus making them more receptive to rules.


Granted , role players can also get greedy some times.


Anyway, hope that helps a bit or if not, that it at least helps clarify the possible issue.

That's actually... a very real possibility! I've gotten so wrapped up in this project that it's certainly plausible that I'm being too controlling and restrictive. I've decided to ask a few of the previous participants if they felt as if I didn't give them enough freedom. I haven't gotten any responses back yet, but if it turns out that this is the case, I'll be sure to edit things heavily before I try again. Thank you for the feedback!

 

[Idea]

That's actually... a very real possibility! I've gotten so wrapped up in this project that it's certainly plausible that I'm being too controlling and restrictive. I've decided to ask a few of the previous participants if they felt as if I didn't give them enough freedom. I haven't gotten any responses back yet, but if it turns out that this is the case, I'll be sure to edit things heavily before I try again. Thank you for the feedback!

No problem at all! I'm actually glad to be taken seriously, not everyone would have responded as well as you did, well done! I don't know who is participating (or will be), but it seems to me like this has the right brew for the stocking.